At least two children are dead and 17 people injured after a crazed gunman opened fire at a Catholic school church in Minneapolis early Wednesday \u2014 barricading the doors and unleashing hell as students were praying during a morning Mass.<\/p>\n
The maniac \u2014 wielding a rifle, shotgun and pistol \u2014 approached the side of the Annunciation Catholic Church and started firing through the windows, striking the scores of children praying in the pews just before 8:30 a.m., police and officials said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two kids, ages 8 and 10, were killed. In total, 17 people \u2014 including 14 kids \u2014 were injured, cops said.<\/p>\n
A shooting has been reported at Annunciation Church and Catholic School in Minneapolis. FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul<\/p>\n
The lone gunman, identified by sources as Robin Westman, had put a wooden plank against some of the church\u2019s side doors in an apparent attempt to trap the students and staff inside the sanctuary as he fired shots from all three guns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,\u201d Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O\u2019Hara said.<\/p>\n
Officials seen at the scene of the shooting. FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul<\/p>\n
A woman cries at the scene of the shooting. FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul<\/p>\n
The gunman, who cops said was in his 20s, was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.<\/p>\n
Of the injured, two children were in a critical condition, police said.<\/p>\n
Fifth grade Annunciation student Weston Halsne told NBC News his friend Victor was shot while attempting to shield him from bullets during the Mass. The young survivor said he hid under a pew when the shooting started \u2014 just as he\u2019d learned in active shooter drills at the school.<\/p>\n
At least six children were being treated at Children\u2019s Minnesota \u2014 a pediatric trauma hospital, according to officials. Hennepin Healthcare, which has Minnesota\u2019s largest emergency department, said it had received 11 patients.<\/p>\n
Here is the latest on the active shooting reported at Minneapolis Catholic school<\/p>\n
\u201cThese were Minneapolis families. These were American families. And the amount of pain that they are suffering right now is extraordinary,\u201d an emotional Mayor Jacob Frey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Authorities haven\u2019t yet determined a motive for the bloodshed but investigators are currently reviewing an apparent manifesto and videos that detail, in part, the gunman\u2019s psychotic obsession with mass shooters.<\/p>\n
A sick 20-minute video posted on YouTube before the shooting showed a hand turning pages of a red notebook laid out on top of what appears to be schematic gun diagrams.<\/p>\n
Other videos show an obsession with mass shooters \u2014 including Sandy Hook killer Adam Lanza.<\/p>\n
Officials have said the shooter did not have a known extensive criminal history.<\/p>\n
The school, which is located next door to the church, is for kindergarten through eighth-graders.<\/p>\n
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Students, who had only just returned to class on Monday, were attending an all-school Mass at the time.<\/p>\n
Scores of local and state police, federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents and other authorities descended on the scene after the shooting broke out.<\/p>\n
Officials stand at the entrance to the building. FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul<\/p>\n
People react at the scene as officials arrive. FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul<\/p>\n
Bill Bienemann, who lives just a few blocks away and has long attended Mass at Annunciation Church, recalled hearing dozens of shots over several minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked. I said, \u2018There\u2019s no way that could be gunfire,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThere was so much of it. It was sporadic.\u201d<\/p>\n
A reunification zone was set up near the school, while others were being urged to stay away \u201cto allow emergency personnel to help victims.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parents could be seen escorting students for the school in the aftermath.<\/p>\n
President Trump and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz were among those briefed on the shooting early on.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease join me in praying for everyone involved!\u201d Trump said on social media.<\/p>\n
In his own post, Walz said: \u201cI\u2019m praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The shooting was just the latest in a series of fatal shootings in the city in less than 24 hours.<\/p>\n
One person was killed and six others were hurt in a shooting Tuesday afternoon outside a high school in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n
Hours later, two people died in two other shootings in the city.<\/p>\n
The church shooting, though, didn\u2019t appear to be related to the others, the police chief said.<\/p>\n
With Post wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At least two children are dead and 17 people injured after a crazed gunman opened fire at a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":180530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,20367,16482,17635,101949,3663,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,60914,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-180529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-churches","10":"tag-mass-shootings","11":"tag-minneapolis","12":"tag-minneapolis-school-shooting-2025","13":"tag-minnesota","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-school-shootings","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-us-news","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115102447420642069","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}